Yuvraj in Tests: A Worthy Selection or Survivor's Sympathy?

Before people start badmouthing me after reading the title to this discussion, let me declare that I am a big Yuvi fan. Yuvraj Singh is one of those rare cricketers who exude passion and panache in a perfectly-blended concoction to win a fan's heart. However, there are some facts that need to be addressed albeit without reading too much into what might happen or what occurred in the recent past. For starters, in the T20 World Cup, Yuvi's lack of fitness was clearly visible. Yes, he was hitting the ball hard but the paunch and the missing dexterity on the field were also visible. His bowling was the only
saving grace. Even now, as the Indian domestic cricket season motors along, Yuvraj Singh is being talked about as a serious prospect of filling the number 6 slot because of his batting and bowling, i.e. bowling being an equally important consideration. It would be presumptuous to say that since Yuvraj Singh has scored a double century recently, he will put the English bowling to sword. Test matches are different from one dayers and no one knows it better than Yuvi himself who has often been found handicapped in playing the longer version of the game. Let us not give-in to the survivor's magnificence that is being associated with Yuvraj at the moment. Let us not become biased towards his selection because he has emerged a winner from a traumatic situation. To be fair, there are more deserving batsmen waiting eagerly to get their due. The question remains, will we select a batsmen based purely upon cricketing parameters or be lured by the survivor's sympathy that is too obvious to ignore. 

Yuvraj's Mommy does the talking: does it get more absurd??

All those who have been following cricket in the sub-continent are largely accustomed to every aspect of cricket being magnified and repeatedly put through a post-mortem like exercise. So when the entire story about the Indian team's pub-brawling came to the fore, it was just a matter of time before the entire matter would get pumped-up beyond reasonability. However, what I was not prepared for was Yuvraj Singh's mother sitting comfortably on her couch and trying to explain how his very 'innocent' son should not be made the scape-goat every time the team loses for some other reason. Here I was believing all along that
the concept of having senior players in the team was that they led by example and given the T20 squad that India had, Yuvi was certainly the senior player, wasn't he?  Wait, it gets even more ridiculous when I saw some cricketing "experts" trying to explain what M/O Yuvraj Singh was trying to say!! I mean if there is some sort of stupidity being committed, it is necessary to make the entire matter seem even more ridiculous by having someone to explain it or simplify it?? This is what cricket has been reduced to...just wait until aunty cricket hits us!!

Do Dhoni's remarks indicate an underlying apprehension?

I might be getting a bit too suspicious here but the fact is that on the eve of their departure to the West Indies for the forthcoming World Cup 2010, the Indian captain did seem very mindful of the fact that most of his team members had participated in the very demanding format of the IPL3 and that this Indian squad certainly wasn't the freshest one in terms of the participating teams at the Caribbean event. What makes me believe this is that MSD himself isn't the greatest of supporters for the theory of playing non-stop cricket.

If you look at this captaincy record, there have been instances where MSD had himself sought the permission of the BCCI to take a rest between two series-something that no other Indian captain has dared to do in the past. Further, Dhoni himself has a very suscpet back that has been troubling him for the last two seasons. Further, to maintain the balance in the team, he cannot risk taking upon another specialist keeper to resolve this issue. So, there is basically no way in which Dhoni can reduce his workload and further, some critical teammates like Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh are still recuperating and are yet to hit peak fitness.

In the background of such issues, it was strange to see that Dhoni went on to explain that his team was 'fresh' at the press conference held on the eve of the team's departure and went on to explain this without much prompting from the surrounding media persons? Is he being wary of something that is bothering the team management?

Case of Sour Grapes in IPL3

By the time this article gets published the Kings XI Punjab would have completed a rather comprehensive victory over the Delhi Daredevils in the last of the handful of league matches in IPL2010. It was interesting to note that though the Kings XI team is totally out of contention in terms of making a claim for the last four berths, they keep on passing comments that suggest they want to beat the opposing teams black and blue in their remaining encounters. Even their coach, Tom Moody, has often said in the last few weeks that he was looking forward to spoiling the party for the remaining teams. I just could not understand this viewpoint. I mean, by spoiling some other team's chances of qualifying for the IPL3 semi-finals, is Tom Moody and his team trying to extract some sort of a sweet revenge. Why this sudden intent of not letting other teams to qualify further? I am not suggesting that the Kings XI team should lie flat on the pitch and let their opponents walk over them but why this sudden pre-occupation of 'spoiling' it for others? I simply believe this is a case of sore losers. I have always believed that it takes a real man to accept defeat in a humble manner and it is confirmed now that not many of this type can be found among the red & white uniform holders of the King's XI squad.

Is Ravinder Jadeja worth the investment?

The Indian team for the upcoming ODI Series against Sri Lanka 2009 has been announced and it seems that the selectors and Dhoni have put their faith in the all-round capabilities of Jadeja. The lef-arm spinner from Saurashtra has been in the frame for some time, and has been promoted as the solution to India's inability to find a genuine all-rounder.
However, I don't believe that he has the makings of being such an effective player unless he is tried out at the top of the batting order since he simply cannot pulverize the bowling towards the end of the innings. Yes, his bowling is pretty useful on most pitches as containing runs is the foremost parameter for bowlers these days but then it is his batting during crucial stages that has come for some criticism in the recent past. I just don't see him developing into a good finisher like Bevan, but he could be more useful at number 3-4. Then again, a problem crops-up, since India has a long list of strokemakers who want to bat up the order and there is just no way that Yuvraj Singh can be demoted in terms of being the preferred number four Indian bastman.